BCCI adds two more players to the Board President’s XI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selectors today updated the Indian Board President’s XI squad that will take on the touring New Zealand team in the two warm-up matches at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai. Opening batsman Lokesh Rahul and leg-spinner Karn Sharma who were not a part of the team initially have been added to the squad on the eve of the game.

While Rahul recently faced the axe when he was excluded from the Indian ODI team that will play the Kiwis in the three-match series. Whereas Sharma has been rewarded for his exceptional exploits with the India A team against New Zealand A. He also completes the bowling attack that has left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem as the other slow bowler.

The Karnataka batsman who once opened the innings for the Indian team across formats was pushed down to the middle order when regular opener Shikhar Dhawan made a comeback in the team. He was handed the No.4 position in the 5-match ODI series in Sri Lanka, he failed to put up a single substantial performance and proved to be an easy wicket for the Lankan spinners.

Rahul was picked in the team for the Australia ODIs but didn’t get a game and when the selectors sat down to determine the team they want to take on the Black Caps his name was missing from the sheet and instead they picked wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik who has had an impressive run in domestic cricket.

29-year-old Karn, on the other hand, has had a brilliant run with the India A team recently. He picked up 16 wickets in two FC games against the visiting team and found 9 wickets in the 4 List A matches. India A won both the series’ 2-0 and 4-0 on the back of the superb bowling effort from their spinners.

It is also likely that the duo will feature in the games since that opens up further prospects for their selection in the Indian national team for future tours. The two warm-up matches will be played on October 17 and 19 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai while the ODI series gets underway at the Wankhede Stadium on October 22.

Board President’s XI team:

Prithvi Shaw, Shivam Chaudhary, Shreyas Iyer (C), Karun Nair, Gurkeerat Mann, Milind Kumar, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shahbaz Nadeem, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Avesh Khan, KL Rahul.